Abubob
Well-known member
AKA the Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway or Dale's Trail or Wilson's Trail or maybe just Ragged's Backside Trail.
I'm gonna start out by saying how badly I bonked after a mere mile and a half. I blame my lawn. It made me mow plus some bushes insisted that I prune some tree branches back so more flowers would grow. Plus I completed a sleep study or should I say a bad night's sleep study Friday night. I did this at home because I thought it might be easier to actually sleep. As it turns out I have moderate sleep apnea. That being said ...
Finding the trailhead was easy. It is just as the description reads "Southern trailhead parking is at a large parking lot to the west side of Proctor Academy’s Farrell Field House in the center of Andover on routes NH 11 and US 4. The Field House is the large brick building set back across the road from the white-fenced playing fields." They are building a new field house in front of the old brick one either that or it's completely new. Anyway it's a construction site but parking in the open and spacious lot was very easy. The trail itself is extremely obvious although not marked from the parking lot but a few strides in you see the sign.
This is a pretty old trail system but amazingly lightly used. I wasn't tripping over roots every two feet and there's no trash anywhere. But there are a lot of trail signs everywhere so I was trying to stay alert to the metal SRKG trail markers. There were also some plain metal markers as well as some painted white blazes. In one part at least where the trail is very obvious I was a bit nervous that I'd walked onto another trail and missed a marker for a short bit.
As I said I totally ran out of energy after a mere mile and a half but got to a very satisfying stop point by a sign say STOP POINT. Who was I to argue. I got home with plenty of time to grill chicken and catch my wife gambling with friends.
SRKG trail head at Proctor Academy by Bob Misuraca, on Flickr
Dale's Trail/Carr Oak by Bob Misuraca, on Flickr
Old farm wall by Bob Misuraca, on Flickr
Stop Point Check by Bob Misuraca, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/s/aHskBTxeLD
I'm gonna start out by saying how badly I bonked after a mere mile and a half. I blame my lawn. It made me mow plus some bushes insisted that I prune some tree branches back so more flowers would grow. Plus I completed a sleep study or should I say a bad night's sleep study Friday night. I did this at home because I thought it might be easier to actually sleep. As it turns out I have moderate sleep apnea. That being said ...
Finding the trailhead was easy. It is just as the description reads "Southern trailhead parking is at a large parking lot to the west side of Proctor Academy’s Farrell Field House in the center of Andover on routes NH 11 and US 4. The Field House is the large brick building set back across the road from the white-fenced playing fields." They are building a new field house in front of the old brick one either that or it's completely new. Anyway it's a construction site but parking in the open and spacious lot was very easy. The trail itself is extremely obvious although not marked from the parking lot but a few strides in you see the sign.
This is a pretty old trail system but amazingly lightly used. I wasn't tripping over roots every two feet and there's no trash anywhere. But there are a lot of trail signs everywhere so I was trying to stay alert to the metal SRKG trail markers. There were also some plain metal markers as well as some painted white blazes. In one part at least where the trail is very obvious I was a bit nervous that I'd walked onto another trail and missed a marker for a short bit.
As I said I totally ran out of energy after a mere mile and a half but got to a very satisfying stop point by a sign say STOP POINT. Who was I to argue. I got home with plenty of time to grill chicken and catch my wife gambling with friends.
SRKG trail head at Proctor Academy by Bob Misuraca, on Flickr
Dale's Trail/Carr Oak by Bob Misuraca, on Flickr
Old farm wall by Bob Misuraca, on Flickr
Stop Point Check by Bob Misuraca, on Flickrhttps://flic.kr/s/aHskBTxeLD
